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The two largest golf cart producers in the US are asking for relief from an existential hazard: a flood of Chinese imports.<\/p>\n
Club Car LLC and Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., both based near Augusta, Georgia, asked the Biden administration this week to slap a 100% tariff on golf carts and other low-speed, often battery-powered personal vehicles made in China \u2014 putting them on par with the US tariff on regular Chinese electric automobiles.<\/p>\n
\u201cChinese import volumes have rapidly increased, taking greater consumer vehicle market share while using price benefits from Chinese government subsidies to drive their advantage,\u201d Club Car President and CEO Mark Wagner said in an emailed statement Friday. \u201cWe had to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n
US imports of Chinese golf carts and other recreational buggies have increased sixfold since 2020, partly because they\u2019re shipped under a product classification where the tariff is lower than those coded as normal-sized EVs. The Chinese carts often avoid higher levies by crossing the border at the lower tariff rate and then undergoing modifications in the US, according to the American companies\u2019 attorneys.<\/p>\n
As a result, the golf carts and similar vehicles \u201care able to skirt the proposed increased duties on electric vehicles\u201d announced by the Biden administration in May, according to a letter filed this week with the US Trade Representative in Washington.<\/p>\n
The skirmish between the world\u2019s largest economies is narrow, but it illustrates the scores of loopholes, workarounds, unintended consequences and legal quandaries that accompany the imposition of tariffs across a swath of the economy.<\/p>\n
Comment Deadline<\/strong><\/p>\n Friday was the deadline for public comment on USTR\u2019s so-called 301 case, under which tariffs on Chinese goods are justified.<\/p>\n The filing from Club Car and Textron, which makes E-Z-GO and Cushman carts, was among hundreds of other pleas for either tariff protection or relief posted during USTR\u2019s comment window. The two companies made their case jointly under a group called the American Personal Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Coalition.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the filing, imports of Chinese golf carts and another tariff classification for similar products called \u201cspecially designated vehicles\u201d totaled $916 million last year, up from $148 million in 2020.<\/p>\n Club Car and Textron\u2019s competitors in China have \u201csubstantially and systematically undersold domestically produced\u201d vehicles, \u201cresulting in a deterioration in the domestic industry\u2019s performance and a sharp decline in the US industry\u2019s production, capacity utilization, shipments, employment, and financial performance in 2024,\u201d according to the June 25 letter to USTR from the Wiley law firm in Washington.<\/p>\n Their outreach to USTR follows a related case filed with the US Commerce Department and the US International Trade Commission, which alleged dumping of Chinese golf carts and sought relief in the form of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robert DeFrancesco, a partner in Wiley\u2019s international trade practice, said the process in that case will take about a year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the Fortune Next to Lead newsletter to get weekly strategies on how to make it to the corner office. Sign up for free<\/a>.<\/div>\n